Pop It Ups Garden Bench Card 'English Summer'

It was a beautiful warm day when I made this card - the first one of the year, which I think inspired the theme of it!

Here's my finished card. I'll talk you through some of the stages below.

I used Karen Burnisons' Sizzix Pop 'n Cuts 'Square Card with Ornate Edges' to cut out the top half of the main card base in blue polka dot paper, and the same die to cut the bottom half in green polka dot paper.

I attached the two halves together (I had left a bit of overlap on one of the halves), then I ran this card base through my Bigshot with the 'Garden Bench' die.

I then ran some woodgrain paper through with the 'Garden bench' die, and cut out just the bench part.

I cut out loads of flower and leaves (all Elizabeth Craft Design dies, shown at the bottom of this post), a woodgrain paper trellis, some clouds with the 'All Season Tree' die set (the smallest flowers and leaves were also from this set), and I hand cut pieces for a little glass of lemonade, a sail boat, pillow, a book and book mark.

Finally, I die cut a circle from Blue Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz, and ran this through the Pop 'n Cuts 'Square Card with Ornate Edges' die to create a kind of semi-circle which would fit perfectly to the edge of the card.

I stuck the woodgrain bench over the top of the half-green-half-blue base bench, and I stuck on the blue Shimmer Sheetz semi-circle, and the clouds. (The blue Shimmer Sheetz makes beautiful water!)

I also added a piece of stripy green paper (the same width as the card) to the outside of the card, to cover the gap left by cutting the bench.

I then cut in half lots of small square foam pads, for the back of the trellis

piece.

(Phew, this is a long post! I'm impressed if you're still with me, as I usually just look at the pictures!)

Anyway, next I stuck the trellis to the centre of the card behind the bench, and stuck on some of the leaf and flower die cuts. I layered the flowers, and added Silver/Transparent Glitter Dots peel-off stickers (from Elizabeth Craft Designs) to the flower centres.

I then stuck the pillow to the bench back (I didn't stick the bottom of the pillow down, so that it doesn't get bent when the card closes, but can just slide between the bench slats.)

I stuck the pages of my book together at the spine, and put a couple of small foam pads in between the pages, to keep them open. I added a little book mark.

For the lemonade, I cut some white cardstock in a glass shape, adding a flap onto the bottom, which I bent backwards and stuck to the arm of the bench. I then added some Yellow Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz for the lemonade and cut a tiny lemon wedge, with a slit, to sit on top of the glass.

You can also just about see in this picture that I added some grass to the front and back of the right leg of the bench (cut with a die from the Garden Bench set).

For the pond, I stuck the rest of the leaves and flowers round the edges, and then glued down my little boat shape, by a flap on the bottom. I glued a cut down wooden cocktail stick to the boat base, and then glued on sails and a flag.

You can see in this picture some of the layers better, and also that I hid the flaps of the lemonade glass and boat, with little strips of woodgrain paper and Blue Shimmer Sheetz respectively.

Just to prove that with everything going on inside the card, you can still actually close it and fit it in an envelope!!

For the card front I added a strip of stripy paper over the join between the main card and the green piece I used to cover the bench hole. (Both of these had double-sided patterns - these are the backs of the polka-dot papers.)

I then added a white oval cut from Karen Burnston's Sizzix Wavy Labels Framelits set, some more flowers and leaves, and a '40' cut from a Sizzix/Stampin' Up alphabet die set. This left a little space for a handwritten message.

And here is the finished card again. I hope you enjoyed seeing my process of making it (I had so much fun doing it!), and that you feel inspired to have a go at making a pop-up card!

A beautiful card Helen. The details are amazing and the colours are so bright and cheery. I like the layout photo of all the pieces before you put it together. I also like your use of Shimmer Sheetz for water.

I am glad you wrote a long detailed post about this card process. It took me a morning to make my version of this card and I don't know that I got all the detail in it that you did. My first attempt with the bench. I love it. Just takes some time and effort to get it the way I wanted it. My two card pals will be blown away. Thanks as always for sharing.

I've been married to Scott for 22 years, am mum to 4 great kids, including one with Type 1 Diabetes. I'm also an On-Call Fire Fighter. I love making things with the craft supplies which are crammed into the drawers in my dining room...